Matthew 2:1-12
I know you all are counting. Today is the 11th day of Christmas. We don’t always get two Sundays during Christmas season, but we do this year. The Gospel reading we heard today is Matthew’s version of the nativity story. We don’t hear it as often in church. Luke’s nativity story is appointed on Christmas Eve. You’ll notice there are no angles or shepherds in Matthew. (And no magi in Luke). No nativity in Mark or John. The general nativity story that is familiar to most of us is a conflation of Matthew and Luke.
There’s one line in today’s Gospel that I want to focus on. "They left for their country by another road." I think other translations say “They went home.” They went home by another road to avoid Herod. But they went home. They worshipped; they offered gifts. And then they went home.
Interestingly, Luke also tells us that the shepherds went home. “The shepherds returned [to their flocks], glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen…” They went home.
You would think that the shepherds and magi would have wanted to stay, to linger at the manger. But both Gospels are clear. The shepherds and the magi went home. They saw Jesus; they worshiped; they went home.
I can think of three reasons why they might have headed on home.
- They had things to do. Kingdoms to run. Sheep to tend to. Obligations to fulfill. They returned to those tasks and obligations of their lives, but they returned to them transformed by what they had seen in the manger.
- They went home eager to share the story with others. Luke tells us that the shepherds returned glorifying God.
- They went home to work on their faith. To nurture the seed that had been planted in their souls in Bethlehem.
We are like the shepherds and the magi. We come here. Every week or almost every week. We come here to meet Jesus. We meet Jesus at the manger, at his table. We meet Jesus in the faces and lives of one another and in the words of the Bible. We encounter Jesus here. And then we go home.
- We go home to the tasks and obligations of our lives. But we go home to life those lives as Christians, formed by the one we encounter here.
- We go home to spread the Good News with other people we know who are “out there” in the world.
- And we go to work on our faith at home.
You’ve undoubtedly heard about the first two of those before. We could all do better, but we do think about being Monday through Saturday Christians and about being evangelists.
But what about that third reason to leave here and go home? To go home to work on our faith…
I recently came across a blog post by Kyle Oliver, who’s on the staff at Virginia Seminary. It’s called “A Resolve [it’s that time of year!] to Practice Faith at Home.” He writes (You can read it HERE):
Studies have shown that the most significant factor among those that help faith “stick” in adolescents and persist into adulthood is what researchers call “family religiosity”: talking about faith, participating in household devotions, serving those in need as a family. In other words, faith is formed, or not, in the home—more so than in church, it turns out. And adults benefit from family religiosity too, both of their family of origin and their faith at home practice as adults—even single adults.
Faith that “sticks” is nurtured and grown AT HOME.
Talking about faith at home. Personal and family devotions. Doing ministry as a family. He asks these questions to help prod us towards resolutions that might help build and nurture a faith that sticks:
- What new or additional ritual might help faith stick a bit more for us?
- What practice with friends and loved ones could regularly gather us around the light of Christ?
- What rite of passage or other life transition might provide an occasion to give thanks for God’s many blessings or even to share with God that we’re ready for better?
Faith that sticks is formed at home.
So after our time together here with Jesus, go home. Go home to build and nurture your faith.
